PDA

View Full Version : Tester Starting To Feel The Heat From the Liberals


Jeanfromfillmore
12-22-2010, 01:35 PM
Tester Starting To Feel The Heat
Montana Democrat Jon Tester voted against the DREAM Act last Saturday. While he was not alone, he did manage to upset one person who actually mattered a lot to Tester's being elected - Markos Moulitsas at the Daily Kos, one of the web's most popular blogs. Moulitsas is extremely influential with young liberals and he was able to raise a significant amount of dollars for the Tester campaign in 2006. Perhaps Tester thought there would be no consequences to voting no on DREAM, but Kos is furious and I wouldn't be surprised if he uses the site to promote a primary opponent for Tester.
Posted at 05:45 PM | Permalink
Schumacher-Matos: Dream Act Latest In Long History Of Shameful Act In Congress
Washington Post columnist Edward Schumacher-Matos compares the vote to the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Indian Removal Act, the Fugitive Slave Law and other acts of Congress that reflect hate-filled periods in American history. And just like in those days, today's antis will insist racism has nothing to do with it (even though it has everything to do with it).
Posted at 09:48 AM | Permalink
Obama Meeting With Congressional Hispanic Caucus Members
Perhaps to discuss Plan B?
Posted at 09:41 AM | Permalink
H-1B Exhaustion Target - Febuary 19, 2011
11,100 H-1B visas remain of the 65,000 quota with 1500 more claimed over the last week. That's a moderate increase from the roughly 1200 used weekly over the last month. I'm pushing my exhaustion target up a week. The master's cap of 20,000 will be reached sometime this week, almost exactly the date I predicted several months ago. The 400 visas claimed weekly in this category will presumably shift to the general H-1B cap and that could accelerate depletion of those visas. That being the case, we could very well see the cap reached next month.
Posted at 08:29 AM | Permalink
div class="entry-author-greg_siskind entry-type-post entry" id="entry-6a00d834521fa969e20147e0e70ae5970b">
Plan B - The Executive Option
Over the last 24 hours, Senator Harry Reid and Senator Charles Schumer have both issued statements indicating that they intend to pursue comprehensive immigration reform in the 112th Congress. Do me a favor Senators. Let's not make this THE strategy for fixing the immigration system as we have since 2004. Unless you reform the filibuster rules and can then produce the names of enough Senators who can pass an immigration reform bill, you will be setting back any real effort to fix the immigration system.

When President Obama and the Democrats took control of Washington in January 2009, they embarked on a carrot and stick immigration strategy. The President would pursue a get tough immigration policy and show that we can really get control of the border. Congress would later work toward passing an immigration reform plan and hopefully pick up Republican supporters who were genuine when they indicated during prior reform efforts that they supported a legalization program AFTER we got a handle on immigration enforcement. Well, we got the stick. The Obama Administration has deported a record number of immigrants, the overall illegally present immigrant population in the US has dropped by more than a million and Congress passed a massive funding bill to ramp up border enforcement. But at the end of this Congress, there are even fewer immigration reform supporters than at the outset. The DREAM Act, supposedly the easiest piece of the immigration reform plan, can't even garner enough votes to pass. This should signal that Republicans have no plans to compromise on immigration no matter how many enforcement bills are passed and how much the President ramps up deportation efforts. Secretary Napolitano was right when she said earlier this year that the Republicans will just keep "moving the goalposts" and will never be satisfied with immigration enforcement efforts.

And that's because the real goal for most in the GOP is not to have an orderly, enforced immigration system, but, rather, to play to an anti-immigrant base of supporters in so-called Red States. For every Richard Lugar out there, there are many more "closet" pro-immigration officeholders in the GOP. I've visited with many who will candidly tell you that they agree with DREAM, AgJobs and broader immigration reform. But they will also tell you that they simply will not risk voting for those bills. They do not need to be convinced of the merits of the pro-immigration case - they're already believers. But they're in survival mode and panicked by the prospects of facing a Tea Party primary opponent. If they were serious about wanting to eventually deal with the illegally present population, they would have defined what it actually means to get control of the border.

It's now time to move on to Plan B.

Several months ago, I published a leaked memorandum outlining a range of options the President has available to deal with immigration matters if Congress failed to do its job and address needed immigration reforms. Additional options have been outlined by my friends Cyrus Mehta and Gary Endelman.

Now is the time, Mr. President, to wipe the dust off that memo an also look for additional input on your executive options and do what needs to be done. It is time to use this authority to implement legalization strategies for the most worthy illegally present immigrants, reform a legal immigration system run by a USCIS that has been taken over by protectionists with little interest in following the Administrative Procedures Act or administering the laws as they were drafted by Congress, and, yes, enforce immigration law in a consistent way that prioritizes the worst actors but doesn't ignore the constitutional values that define our country.

Strictly from a political point of view, the President's best move is to no longer depend on Congress. The narrative is straightforward - Congress has been unable move even the smallest immigration measures for the last several years and our national secuirty depends on bringing some order to the system.

The polls show Americans are far more pragmatic on immigration issues than the hardcore right wingers who have handcuffed the GOP. But more importantly, the President has to look at the electoral math and realize that just a few points shift in a couple of states with large Latino populations will end his chances in 2012. Those voters are not in the pocket of the Democrats and immigration is and will remain one of the top issues for this key constituency. Republicans in denial try to pretend that Latinos don't care all that much about immigration.The smart members of the GOP know that they've got a major problem unless the Democrats some how blow it with Latino voters.

How could President Obama lose these voters? Democratic Senators and Representatives can go to their voters and point to their vote on the DREAM Act to at least present as evidence of having tried. But President Obama's one accomplishment on immigration is having ramped up deportations to record levels. Merely having made encouraging statements about immigration reform is going to ring pretty hollow after four years of waiting. Latinos don't need to vote for the Republican candidate in 2012. They just need to stay home to ruin the President's reelection chances.

The President needs to deliver something on immigration for Latinos and it is not going to come in the form of a pro-immigration bill passed by Congress. It will need to come in one of three forms.

First, the President could hope that the anti-immigrants in Congress succeed in passing the anti-immigration bills they're promoting (repealing birthright citizenship, for example). He would then get to make a highly publicized veto. But it's pretty unlikely a bill of this sort would pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Second, the President could ease up on immigration enforcement. But doing so will be tough given all of the political investment that has gone in to such policies over the last decade and would make the President look insincere when he committed to getting control of illegal immigraiton.

And third, the President could move on immigration reform through executive decisions, as I've noted above. And, really, this is the only viable option he can consider.

Republicans will scream bloody murder when the President moves in this direction and there is no doubt that the anti-immigration shouting machine will go to town. But Republicans would also be foolish to think that the public will punish the President if he moves forward on immigration without Congress. Most Americans are disgusted with Congress' inability to solve problems so they are likely to give the President points for trying to deal with this problem on his own. But even if they were are thrilled with the President acting on his own, most voters put immigration far down the list of issues they consider most important. The only two groups that place immigration at the top are Tea Party activists and Latino voters. And the President's has a zero percentage chance of winning many Tea Party votes.

And so back to Senators Schumer and Reid. Thank you for doing your best to move immigration reform. But it's time to admit that relying on Congress to fix the immigration system has failed and its prospects in the 112th Congress are dismal. Do your best to pass immigration reform, but make it clear that smaller pro-immigration bills can now move. And give the President political cover to pursue an executive authority approach by publicly supporting him in such efforts.
http://www.ilw.com/articles/2010,1222-siskind.shtm


Obama, Hispanic Allies Plan Strategy Versus GOP
Amid the cheering this week over President Obama's string of legislative victories, little fanfare accompanied his meeting Tuesday with Latino lawmakers to contemplate his one recent defeat — the failure of the DREAM Act, all but closing the window for Democratic-led immigration overhaul for the next two years.
In an Oval Office meeting, Obama told five members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that he "will not give up on the DREAM Act" or his 2008 campaign promise to deliver "comprehensive immigration reform," according to a White House statement.
What's next? Defense.
The incoming Republican House leadership is virtually certain to block any further measures such as the DREAM Act that would provide a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants.
In response, the president and Hispanic caucus members are expected to shift strategies to block passage of any GOP legislation that might punitively target illegal immigrants.

Last week, Senate Republicans blocked passage of the DREAM Act, which would establish a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants younger than 36 who arrived in the United States as children, have lived here for five years or more, and are attending college or serving in the military. More than 800,000 of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the nation could have been eligible.
In the next Congress, Hispanic lawmakers and Latino advocacy groups will be braced for a Republican attempt to end automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants, a right granted under the 14th Amendment.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is a leading opponent of "birthright" citizenship and will have the power to bring such a measure to the fore, as incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Smith has publicly said stricter immigration enforcement will be a priority of his, from securing U.S. borders to cracking down on human smuggling.
Smith's acolyte likely will be Rep. Steve King (R-IA), the next chairman of the House subcommittee on immigration. King plans to introduce a bill that would alter the 14th Amendment to deny citizenship to American-born children of undocumented parents.
He's also expressed a willingness to seek a constitutional amendment, a prohibitive task requiring ratification by two-thirds of Congress and three quarters of the state legislatures.
A constitutional amendment is unlikely (there have been 27 in U.S. history; the latest occurred in 1992), but the approach has gained currency with many conservative GOP lawmakers in both the House and Senate.
Latino groups warn that lawmakers who target illegal immigrants would expose themselves to political risk made much greater with the recent release of Census data showing the effects of the Hispanic population boom on congressional reapportionment.
While several of the states set to gain congressional seats are red, such as Texas and Arizona, their population growth is owed largely to Latinos, who have tended to vote increasingly for Democrats as GOP candidates have hardened against immigration reform that would include paths to citizenship.
"You have some of the most extreme members of the House who are going to be the calling card of the Republican Party to Latinos when they need to rebuild their relationships with Latinos," Clarissa Martinez, director of immigration for National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group.
"My hope here is that now that you have congressional responsibility shared, with the Democrats in Senate and Republicans in the House, they will share the credit for finding solutions and solving the problems. That may be an opportunity."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2010/12/22/132262817/obama-hispanic-allies-plan-strategy-versus-gop